The Department of Telecommunications (DoT) has established eight working groups under the ambit of the Telecom Equipment and Services Export Promotion Council (TEPC) to position India as a prominent exporter of telecom technologies. The vision is to transform India as a telecom manufacturing hub for global relevance and gain market share in both developed and emerging markets.
The working groups have been constituted in key focus areas, including collaborations of original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) and system integrators; telecom standardisation and testing; radio, wireless and satellite equipment; wireline, optical and transmission, networking equipment; optical fibre and other cables; wireline access and enterprises solutions, internet protocol (IP) and phone, IP electronic private automatic branch exchange (EPBX), sensors, etc.; 4G/5G/6G and future network’s core and radio networks; and element management system (EMS) & component ecosystem for telecom equipment manufacturing. These were formed as a result of TEPC’s all-industry meeting with the telecom secretary.
However, the working group on wireline, optical and transmission, and networking equipment, chaired by Rajesh Rai, chief managing director (CMD), ITI, will develop a plan for domestic manufacturing of these items.
Further, the working group on optical fibre and other cables will be chaired by Sandeep Aggarwal, managing director (MD), Paramount Communications, and the working group on wireline access & enterprise solutions, IP phone, IP EPBX, sensors, and so on will be chaired by Rajesh Tuli, MD, Coral Telecom Limited.
Meanwhile, R.K. Upadhyaya, chief executive officer (CEO) of the Centre for Development of Telematics (C-DOT), will lead the working group on 4G/5G/6G and future network ore and radio networks and the working group on EMS and component ecosystem for telecom equipment manufacturing is led by Puneet Agrawal, founder and CEO of VVDN Technologies.
